Live, Local, Late Breaking news, weather, and sportsDigging Deeper: Destroyed guns a thing of the past?

Digging Deeper: Destroyed guns a thing of the past?

Law enforcement agencies could no longer destroy confiscated or abandoned guns under a bill state lawmakers are considering.

They would be required to sell those guns to the public.

Law enforcers say that could cause big problems, especially for smaller agencies with limited resources.

Two years ago, the Dougherty County Sheriff's office destroyed more than 400 guns used in various crimes.

"Generally these are weapons that are used in violent crimes, they could be used in homicides, suicides, armed robberies, domestic violence cases, weapons that are seized because they are illegal," said Captain Craig Dodd, Dougherty County Sheriff's Office.

The reasons these weapons are destroyed vary, it could be something as simple as the serial number is removed.

"They may violate certain Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms rules and regulations, they may be confiscated due to that, they may be sawed off shot guns, that sort of thing sawed off rifles," said Dodd.

A proposal from an Atlanta Senator would end the destruction of these guns instead requiring them to be auctioned off to the public once every six months. Digging deeper, law enforcers believe it may be impossible to do, you have to be licensed to sell a firearm.

"I don't know how we could sell firearms without a federal firearms license unless we're selling them directly to a gun dealer," said Dodd.

In fact Dougherty County Sheriff Kevin Sproul has made a promise not to allow those guns back on the street since taking office.

"He does not think it's a good idea to put guns back on the street that have been used in crimes," said Dodd.

Captain Dodd says the office does make every effort to return stolen weapons to their rightful owners running them one step further than the Georgia State Database, GCIC.

"We also do a, what's called a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, back trace check where we take the firearm put a description of it in there, along with the serial number if we can obtain it and we run it through AFT and they send us back, the name of whoever the first purchaser of that firearm was," said Dodd.

Often that can lead them to the most current owner. If the legislation gets backing, law enforcers say there will have to be some exceptions, because in some instances the guns simply aren't safe to operate.

Law enforcers say they sometime trade guns to licensed dealers for resale in exchange for safety equipment such as bulletproof vests or other supplies.

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